Cook County Board

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Had you absorbed the Regional Transportation Authority's damning new audit, and then watched RTA directors discuss it Wednesday, you couldn't avoid this conclusion: For more reasons than you previously knew, the remaining Metra board members who approved a scandalous hush-money payout need to resign right now. Five of the 10 who voted "yes" or "present" on that package for Metra's ex-CEO have quit. We're ever more curious why local politicians who select the Metra board haven't dislodged the five bitter-enders.

Metra board member Stanley Rakestraw has been asked to resign, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's office said late Wednesday, following inquiries by the Tribune about Rakestraw's eligibility and residency. State law requires that Preckwinkle's appointee to Metra live in suburban Cook County, but Tribune reporting determined that Rakestraw lives in a luxury condo in Chicago. It was not known late Wednesday whether Rakestraw, a longtime supporter and campaign contributor to Preckwinkle, had resigned.

A recent tax break approved by the Cook County Board could help Tinley Park property owners fill vacant buildings, village officials announced. The county board on July 17 approved an amendment to the Class 8 and Class 6B Property Tax Classification Ordinance that will allow "significant tax breaks" for business development in Bremen, Rich, Calumet, Bloom and Thornton townships, according to Tinley Park officials. Both Bremen and Rich are in Tinley Park, said Trustee Dave Seaman, chairman of the village's Finance and Economic Development Committee.

The Cook County Board today approved a payout of more than $500,000 to nearly a dozen people that a federal court monitor determined were fired for unlawful political reasons by Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios after he took office in late 2010. Two commissioners - Chicago Democrats Earlean Collins and Deborah Sims - both voted against making the payments. They decried the millions of dollars paid out by the county since 2007 to hiring monitors appointed by the federal court to help remove political considerations from most county personnel decisions.

One is a labor lawyer. Another heads a company that sells firefighting equipment. One runs a construction company. Of the 11, only five have held elective office. And just one has any railroad experience. They are the board of directors of Metra, one of the nation's biggest commuter rail systems, which provides more than 300,000 passenger trips a day and has a budget of about $868 million. Here are their profiles and who appointed them. Representing Chicago LARRY HUGGINS (Chicago)

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Tuesday that changing negative attitudes toward county government remains her biggest challenge. A little more than 21/2 years through her first term as Cook County Board president, Toni Preckwinkle said Tuesday that changing negative attitudes toward county government remains her biggest challenge. Speaking to the City Club of Chicago, Preckwinkle said concerns about the work of county government extend beyond voters but also to agencies and other governments distrustful of the bloated, patronage-rich and often inept bureaucracy she inherited from predecessor Todd Stroger.

Cook County commissioners voted Wednesday to lower the tax on certain big-ticket items bought outside the county, but the move won't end lawsuits challenging its legality. The use tax targets companies based in Cook County that go elsewhere to save money on large purchases such as office supplies or equipment worth more than $3,500. Not included under the tax are real estate and vehicles. The board approved a 1.25 percent use tax late last year as part of the budget. On Wednesday, commissioners reduced it to 0.75 percent, which Board President Toni Preckwinkle said would bring it into line with federal tax rules and bolster the county's case in two lawsuits.

Former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's name was raised repeatedly Tuesday at the criminal trial of his former deputy chief, whose alleged theft of $300,000 in taxpayer money appeared to have been helped along by his authority. Soon after the county rejected attempts from Carla Oglesby to award emergency contracts, Stroger signed paperwork making Oglesby a signatory on the approximately 30 offices overseen by the county president, former purchasing agent Carmen Triche-Colvin testified.

As a Cook County Board commissioner, Calvin R. Sutker gained support from his fellow county commissioners to bring the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center to Skokie. As a Skokie village trustee, he helped pass the first open housing law in Illinois. He also was chairman of the Illinois state Democratic Party in the 1980s and a Democratic committeeman in Niles Township for more than 30 years. Mr. Sutker, 89, died of multiple myeloma Thursday, April 25, at Evanston Hospital, said his daughter Sharon McGowan.

Cook County commissioners agreed Wednesday to pay a $2.6 million settlement to three doctors who in two federal lawsuits claimed they were illegally fired from jobs at a South Side hospital. Dr. Vietta Johnson and Dr. Daniel Ivankovich said in their lawsuit that they were laid off from their positions at Provident Hospital because they supported organizing activities by a physicians' union, and criticized the county for spending too little on patient care and too much on administrative salaries and other nonpatient costs.